Details
PAULL THORNGUMBALD ROAD
TA 12 SE
(south side, off)
Paull Holme
6/9 Paull Holme Tower
- I
Tower house. Mid-late C15 for Holme family. Restorations of 1871 for
Colonel Bryn Holme. Banded red and blue brick in English bond (original
sections with blue brick header courses). Some limestone ashlar dressings,
otherwise of moulded brick. Rectangular on plan. 3 stages, marked by
external chamfered brick set-backs with ashlar blocks at angles. 2 storeys
with basement and parapet wall walk. First stage. South side has 4-
centred-arched entrance of 2 hollow-chamfered orders with internal
portcullis slot, and narrow blocked pointed door to right. West side has
narrow window with chamfered segmental-pointed reveal, and blocked opening
to right with inserted timber lintel. North side has damaged square-headed
opening to left, perhaps inserted. East side has narrow chamfered
segmental-pointed window. Second stage. South side has blocked doorway to
right with mutilated head and inserted timber lintel, small blocked square
opening to left. West side has central opening, blocked below, with
inserted (probably C19) pointed ashlar 2-light window with foiled Y-tracery,
moulded mullions and reveal, beneath fragmentary hoodmould; rectangular
recessed panel above with ashlar head and chamfered brick reveal, containing
ashlar relief tablet bearing tilted shield with arms of Holme quartered with
those of Wasteneys, flanked by 3 roses. North side has narrow chamfered
segmental-pointed window with square-headed loop to left. East side has 4-
centred-arch window with chamfered reveal, and inserted square-headed 2-
light ashlar window to right with chamfered mullion and reveal. Third
stage. South side has blocked twin segmental-pointed window with roll-
moulded reveal beneath triangular-headed tile hoodmoulds. West side has
similar central window. North side has similar window but with chamfered
reveals. East side has central door with damaged sill and arched head, with
small blocked chamfered segmental-pointed window to left. Chamfered brick
corbels carrying projecting parapet, originally embattled, now ruinous, with
single ridge-coped merlon standing on east side. Interior. Elliptical
barrel-vaulted basement: south side has pair of arched recesses, one with a
chamfered arch; west side has pair of chamfered arched recesses, one with
stepped reveal to blocked inserted opening, the other with window in hollow
chamfered reveal; north side has fireplace with damaged arch and chamfered
arched reveal to damaged opening; east side has arched recesses to garderobe
and to window in hollow chamfered reveal, and segmental-arched door to mural
staircase in east wall. Staircase has stone treads, tunnel vault, splayed
reveal to blocked outer door at foot, stepped reveal to blocked side window.
First floor: south side has flattened triangular-headed chamfered fireplace
flanked by single-arched recesses, arched doorway to corner lobby at foot of
upper stairs to left, with blocked 4-centred-arched door in outer wall; west
side has a full-width tripartite recess, the damaged central chamfered
arched section (containing the 2-light ashlar window) flanked by low side
recesses; north side has pair of arched recesses and arched stepped reveal
to window; east side has a 4-centred-arched door to the lower staircase, a
doorway to left beneath an inserted timber lintel, into an L-shaped mural
chamber with loop in splayed reveal and garderobe with window and ashlar-
lined hatch, and a slightly-recessed section to right with a segmental-
pointed doorway to upper mural staircase and projecting section of wall
above carried on 3 chamfered corbels. Mural staircase in east wall has
blocked window and damaged outer opening at second floor landing. Floor
missing. Original features on second floor partly obscured by C19 plaster.
South side has traces of blocked segmental openings, probably recesses and
window reveal; west side has central arched recess with stepped window
reveal flanked by tall narrow arched recesses; north side, with C19
patching, has wide recess and small square recess; east side has damaged
door to landing. Recesses throughout have either segmental or segmental-
pointed arches. East mural staircase continues to ruinous parapet and wall
walk. Section of low arched inner' recess to south side. The tower formed
part of a larger moated house, and was probably attached at the north end of
a hall block. The arms on the west face post-date the marriage in 1438 of
Elizabeth Wasteneys and John Holme, for whom it may have been built. One of
the most important medieval brick buildings in the Humberside-Yorkshire
area, suffering seriously from neglect at time of resurvey. Scheduled
Ancient Monument, County Number 199. G Poulson, The History and Antiquities
of Holderness, 1841, p 493; P F Ryder, Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire,
1982, pp 116-7; P F Ryder and S Coleman, "Paull Holme Tower", East Riding
Archaeologist, vol 7, 1983, pp 85-90; Victoria County History: York, East
Riding, vol 5, p 116. Photographs in National Monuments Record.
Listing NGR: TA1852224881
